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Mar 11, 2025

Destin adds pedestrian-safety phase to $12M Crosstown Connector project

DESTIN, Fla. -- What was a project to alleviate traffic issues in Destin is now adding another phase to include pedestrian safety and walkability. The City of Destin received a $200,000 grant to build

DESTIN, Fla. -- What was a project to alleviate traffic issues in Destin is now adding another phase to include pedestrian safety and walkability.

The City of Destin received a $200,000 grant to build a multi-modal path in the "Crosstown Connector" project. The project has been discussed for more than a decade.

Overall, it will cost around $12 million with multiple agencies, including the city, paying for it.

Mayor Wagner says the Crosstown Connector is designed to be an alternate corridor that would help alleviate traffic on Highway 98.

"If something large or catastrophic were to happen on 98, it doesn't completely bottleneck all the residential roads, but really gives us an alternative road that brings us east and south through Destin," he said.

The Crosstown Connector's preliminary design runs from the intersection of Benning Drive and Azalea Drive -- east to Beach Drive.

The mayor says when traffic builds up, motorists often travel down residential streets.

"It's going in front of people's front yards. Their mailboxes, their driveways," he said. "This Crosstown Connector is allowing us to take the traffic that Waze and Google and all these other smart devices are bringing us and making it align with what we assume is a much safer road."

The Destin City Council approved a SUN Trail grant agreement for the Crosstown Connector on Monday.

The city receives the $200,000 to strictly implement a 10-12 foot multi-modal path, which is required to be a part of FDOT's Shared-Use Non-Motorized Trail Program (SUN Trail).

The mayor says becoming a part of the SUN Trail network opens the door for more funding.

"There's a bucket of money in the state that is designated for the SUN Trail and it would be foolish for us to not tap into some of those sources and spend it locally," Wagner said. "Because if we don't, some other city some other place is going to."

No motorized vehicles will be allowed on the path, as per the grant, according to the mayor.

He says the city will put bollards and columns along the path to make sure it's "pedestrian forward" -- plus trees and a park larger than a football field.

"The whole goal is to have this beautiful large pathway that keeps people away from dangerous places like bloody 98 and connecting them to places they want to be and go," Wagner said.

The council also approved the development order for the project this past Monday. Wagner says it will be set up in two phases: a road phase and a storm water and path phase first. The path phase will likely happen first.

The city anticipates the project will be completed by the end of 2026.